Posted on 02/03/2023 5:05:40 AM PST by Red Badger
The U.S. military is currently monitoring a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been hovering for several days over the northern United States.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement on Thursday that the “high-altitude surveillance balloon” poses no immediate threat to the United States and will be monitored for the time-being.
“The United States Government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” said Ryder, adding:
The U.S. government, including NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely. The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.
According to NBC News, the balloon was initially spotted over Billings, Montana, after it had flown over the Aleutian Islands and through Canada. The exact whereabouts of the balloon remains unknown to the public at this time.
“Currently we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective over and above what the PRC can do through other means,” “Nevertheless we are taking all necessary steps to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information.”
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
[...Monitoring suspected Chinese Spy Balloon...]
Really? Not snagging it from the sky and analyzing its purpose?
Just what exactly does our government do outside of generational-theft level spending and non-stop politics?
Damned little that I can see.
Biden is compromised and bought and paid for. The Chinese are now showing their hand.
They have satellite data, they don’t need to eyeball a balloon.
There’s a ton of data over decades showing prevailing winds.
There’s an overall structure to the winds, but flux is perpetual.
It doesn’t make sense…
I’m gonna guess it would have to be the size of a blimp or larger as any viable emp device is going to weight thousands of pounds
“ How can it be shot down at say 100,000 feet altitude?”
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons the Chicoms sent it. They want to see how we would do it.
Was it launched from Canada...?
Betcha.
If they’d taken it out over the Aleutians, the chances of it hitting someone or anything of significance were very small.
What’s the point of having NORAD or military bases in Alaska if they’re going to be afraid to shoot something down?
Back in the 1960’s, when the UFO phenomenon was at its peak, some college students built a platform with some flashing lights, batteries and helium balloons and launched it. I forget exactly where they were, but it travelled a long distance and was sighted by aircraft.............
Yes. They used balloons with a system that sensed when the balloon was gaining or losing altitude and would open a valve or drop a sand bag as needed to maintain the altitude range. Once the last sand bag was dropped, the next items would be an incendiary device and/or a bomb.
They were trying to take out our forest reserves in the Pacific Northwest and shift our personnel from the war effort by starting forest fires. A couple of them actually worked and made it here. One wound up killing a pastor's wife and five young teens on a church picnic in Oregon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb
Quite a sophisticated endeavor for the time.
The Chinese have already admitted it’s theirs. They are saying it’s a weather balloon.
They need a balloon if they wanna know the prevailing winds there So they can see where the prevailing winds go and avoid nuclear fallout blowing to China; right now it seems like if that balloon is floating west to east that means prevailing winds at this time of year would blow it all across the country and not towards China. I think much of the world has come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to world peace is America, America starts wars when a politician needs a few more points on his poll numbers
The only reason I could see not to bring it down is if the DOD is already recording and reading all the data its sending out.
It could be helpful to know its capabilities and what Chinese intel is interested in. Other than that its a stupid idea to leave it up there.
It is always west to east.
If we flew an SR-71 over their country, would they try to shoot it down?
Would they complain?
What would they do???
I say: Shoot the d*n thing down, YESTERDAY!
Don’t be speculating on what they MIGHT be doing, just down it.
What do they do to our recon aircraft in International Airspace?
I can’t help but wonder what Reagan would have done in a similar situation. 🤔
Yeah now with a balloon they know that for sure. it’s not something that they could see with the satellite. I would be very worried with what they’re doing this aside from the fact that it’s 1 big statement saying we’re not afraid of America
No need for a Chinese “Pearl Harbor Attack” Biden Chinese owned USA will not fight any insult. How long would a US Balloon last over China? Ten minutes? Less? Didn’t we do this to Russia back in 1847? Roswell?
Are you stating that until now the Chinese didn’t know the winds blow from west to east?
I hope you’re f’ing with me.
capture it, analyze it, show it to the world.........................
We'll find it's an exact copy of the cutting edge one we just engineered last year. A copy of the plans were not next to the corvette.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.